Valentine's Day Decor!

Have you just been D.Y.I.N.G. to see what I use my pinwheels for?  I bet so!!  Well, I used them on a little Valentine's Day bunting for my mantel!!

I made the bunting with  felt that I stitched around with embroidery floss, and binding tape folded over the top and stitched with a zigzag stitch.  Then I just used some hot glue to attach the pinwheels! I also did add little pompoms to the center of the pinwheels.

I also thought that I would share another Valentine's Day craft that I made last year, my "love is all you need" wreath.  I saw this on a blog, and decided to try it.{I have N.O. C.L.U.E. which blog I saw it on, so if it was yours, let me know so that I can give you some credit!} 

I serves as the focal point for my Valentine's Day mantel!  I love it!!! {I have more to add to finish up the mantel, including replacing my New Year's printable with a more appropriate one, but I thought that I'd give you a little sneak peek!}

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Making Pinwheels {Tutorial}

Hello everyone!! I have been getting excited to decorate for Valentine's Day, and thought that I would share a fun and easy little project with you! 

How to make a pinwheel!! {This was my first attempt at making pinwheels, and I just looked at some pictures and tried to duplicate!} 

First I found some fun "love-y" scrapbooking paper and cut it into 6" squares.  {of course, any size squares will do!}

Then I drew a straight line from corner to corner, using a ruler.  This gave me the guide lines to cut, and also found the center of the square.

Next, cut along the lines, stopping about an inch from the center on each line.

I decided to use double stick tape to create the pinwheel shape. So just put a small piece directly in the center of the square.

Now, pick a corner and fold it in to the center, sticking it to the tape.

Then do the opposite corner.

Then add another small piece of tape to the center and fold the last two corners into the middle.

{Note:  make sure that you fold in the same side of the corner on all four sides. Does that make sense?}

And now you have a cute little pinwheel!! Of course its fun to embellish the center, and pin it to something so that it will spin!

 The double stick tape worked great for the regular weight paper, but for a thicker paper {like the sparkly one I used} hot glue worked best.

I did have a couple of failures :(  This paper was just too thick, even for hot glue. Not to mention the fact that the bar code was showing.  I also folded the wrong sides of the paper in on the one on the left, so the pinwheel was going the wrong direction.  Oh well, I have big plans for this paper now {they are just different plans!}

Here are the pretty finished products, Cute Valentine's Day Pinwheels!!

You will have to come back to see what I am doing with my pinwheels!

Hope you enjoyed my first attempt at a tutorial! Have a great day!! {actually it should be night, since it is currently 1:00 am!}

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S.A.D.

Today was R.E.A.L.L.Y. hard.  I have really been trying to be strong, but today I allowed myself to cry{let's be honest, I've cried about this many times} I will let the pictures tell the story.

S.A.D.

The End.

Thrifty Finds

I don't know if you've noticed a trend in my posts, but I L.O.V.E. to shop at thrift stores!!  Our local thrift store is the D.I. {Deseret Industries}, and I am adDIcted!  I can spend hours in there if I'm not careful!  So I decided to start posting regularly about my thrifty finds, since I go so often! 

Here is what I found yesterday:

A shower organizer.

Some stamps.

2 wood signs. {ready for a cute saying!}

A brand new pair of tights.

A brand new "garden pouch". {Yay for organized tools!!}

A small organizer for office supplies. {paperclips, thumbtacks, etc}

2 matching baskets. {More organization!!}

A set of 3 small stacking boxes.

A nice crocheted afghan for my bed.

AND....

A brand new "snake skin" throw pillow!!!

All of this for a whopping $17.50!!!

Oh yeah!  I love to find good deals!

Does anyone else love to thrift shop as much as I do?  What great finds have you found lately?

Have a fabulous day!!

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Out With the Old, In With the New

Another update we made to the house was replacing the light fixture in our dining area.  The old light was a big box fluorescent thing, and it was U.G.L.Y.  We still have an identical one in our kitchen. {hopefully it will be replaced sooner than later}

 I found this little beauty at D.I. for a whopping $4!! 

Granted it was missing one of the glass shades, AND it was a very shiny bronze color--YuCk.  But a couple of coats of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint, some new fabric lamp shades from Lowe's, and we have a darling "new" light that I absolutely A.D.O.R.E.!!

The old light wasn't placed over our table, so I just hung the end of the chain on a hook which was over a couple of feet.  Now we have a nice soft glow during our meals instead of the harsh light from the fluorescent. 

Another "issue" that I had to overcome was the lamp shades.  The metal piece inside the shade that hooks onto the light bulb was upside down for the way that I needed them to be :( 

BUT...after a few moments of despair, {Light. Bulb.} I figured out that I could just open the wire with pliers and slide it over the light bulb.

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Updates

We have been renting our cute little house for 2 1/2 years now, and we have made a T.O.N. of changes in that time.  Our "landlords" are awesome, and let us do pretty much whatever we want to the house.  Sometimes I forget that it isn't actually OUR house! 

When we first moved in, there was wall paper in E.V.E.R.Y. room.  It took us no time at all to start ridding the house of wall paper, and I am happy to say that the only room that has wall paper still in it is the laundry room. (But I have big plans to change that this year!) 

In the livingroom we have a fireplace, but when we moved in, it had an outdated wood burning stove thing, that was so not my style.  Also the brick around the fireplace goes all the way up to the ceiling (which I love) but there wasn't a mantel, so it was impossible to really decorate in any way.  But...last fall we got a different fireplace insert(for $40 off of ksl...Oh yeah!) and a mantel(also off of ksl for $30...Woohoo!!)
Now we have a great focal point in our living room that I absolutely Love!

SIDE NOTE: one of my goals for this year is to be better at taking "before" pictures! This is the best that I got.

And the After!

L.O.V.E.

Have a happy Tuesday!

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